


Broken Heart Syndrome

by Mistress_Of_Space_92



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Markus doesn't have strong romantic feelings for North, Mild Angst, Other, it's resolved (sorta) by the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-26
Updated: 2018-06-26
Packaged: 2019-05-28 21:51:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15058559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mistress_Of_Space_92/pseuds/Mistress_Of_Space_92
Summary: You and Markus want to be together but the timing wasn't right.But things happen and Markus realizes that life's too short to not be with who you love.





	Broken Heart Syndrome

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this for my new writing/art blog! Check me out over at stuff-from-the-void-matron.tumblr.com

—-

If you listened hard enough you could almost hear the sound of your heart shattering into a million pieces. You stood passively across from Markus and he looked so sad that you couldn’t find it in yourself to really be upset with him. You’d never really had any hope he’d return your feelings for him anyways. But it still hurt to know he and North were an item. But you supposed she was a better match for him than you. After all, they’re both androids, and you’re just a silly love-struck human.

“I’m sorry Y/n, if the circumstances had been different…..”

A terrible pain settled in your throat and chest but you ignored it and held your hands up to pacify the android’s guilt. You didn’t want him to feel bad just because he didn’t return your affections. That’s not what you’d wanted. You’d just wanted to get this off your chest.

“No no! It’s alright Markus. I didn’t expect you to return my feelings. I just wanted to get it out finally. I’ve felt this way for a while and it was eating me alive.”

You swallowed down the lump forming in your throat and picked at your fingernail just for something to do instead of having to look up at Markus. The room around you felt too quiet. You continued talking in a bid to keep things from getting awkward,

“I hope this doesn’t ruin our friendship! If you’re willing then I’d love to keep our relationship where it is, as just friends. But if you think it’d be too awkward then I understand…”

Markus couldn’t help but notice how withdrawn and hurt you looked now. Usually you were all smiles and laughter. But now you looked like you’d had every ounce of joy ripped out of you. And it was because of him. He’s liked you for a while now. But he’d assumed you only saw him as a friend. So when North suggested a romantic relationship between them a couple months ago he’d agreed to give it a try.

He wished more than anything he could go back and tell her no. But he can’t, and he was already in a relationship. North has been with him and their group for so long and he knew how angry she was at humanity. How used she felt. He didn’t want to break her heart by abandoning her for you. No matter how much his thyrium pump ached and demanded for him to grab you and spin you around and tell you he loved you too.

He’d made a promise to North, and he has to keep it.

“I want to remain friends as well, Y/n. I’m glad this won’t pull our friendship apart.”

You gave him as real a smile as you could muster before you told him you had to be off. You had work the next day and couldn’t stay out late. His chest constricted at the thought of you leaving, at the thought of this being where you both stood. But he let you go with a smile and a wave. And like that you were gone. The leader worried that despite your request to remain friends that you both would drift apart. That you’d stop coming around to see everyone. He swallowed down that fear and told himself that you’d never disappear on them. That’s not the kind of person you were.

And he wasn’t wrong. You both continued on like you had before. You still came and visited them often, hanging out like he hadn’t torn your heart in two. If he didn’t know better he’d say he imagined the whole confession. But his memory didn’t lie. He had the confession saved to his internal memory. And even if he didn’t, he didn’t think he’d ever be able to forget the heartbreak he saw in your eyes when he told you he and North were together.

“Y/n are you okay? You look a little pale.”

It was Josh that spoke up. Markus looked over from where he was sitting with North and saw that Josh was right. You did look paler than usual. The sudden attention had you blushing in embarrassment and you tried to ease their worry with a smile.

“Eh I think I might be catching a virus. There’s been one going around lately so I’m not surprised. I wouldn’t worry about it, I’m sure it’ll pass before we know it.”

Josh looked a little skeptical but let it slide. Simon told you that you shouldn’t be out and about if you were getting sick. That you should be resting at home. You waved their worry off by saying you wanted to come see them all. That it was your favorite thing to do. Hearing that made Markus’ chest constrict in a happy but also sad way.

It was past nightfall before you knew it and you needed to get home soon. You stood with a groan, your legs hurting from sitting for so long. Simon offered to walk you home since it was later than you usually left and you agreed. Markus wanted to walk you home but knew better than to say anything. He watched you and Simon chat amicably as you walked out of the room.

Barely 10 minutes had passed before Simon threw the front door open and rushed into the room saying you passed out on the way to your house and he’d had to watch paramedics load you up into the back of an ambulance and drive off with you. Everyone was shocked and wanted to go see if you were alright. But Josh pointed out that the hospital wouldn’t let them see you right now. Visiting hours were long over.

“But I don’t want to just sit around while Y/n could be in trouble. They’re our friend, we should be there for them,” Josh interjected with a serious expression. But North replied with a frown,

“Yes but even if we did go to the hospital right now they’d just tell us to sit in the waiting room until the tomorrow morning. Plus, none of us are technically their family so the doctors won’t tell us anything useful.”

Markus sighed and decided to interject before they could start an argument over this.

“Look, North’s right. No point in all of us going down there now just to wait in a room til morning. I’ll go wait at the hospital and call you all up there when it’s time, okay?”

They didn’t all look like they agreed with him fully but decided to just roll with it. Markus was pretty good at having good solutions to problems so they figured he was right then. He promised to call them the minute he got told anything about you and they walked him out and to his automated taxi. The drive felt like it lasted for ages and when he got to the hospital they told him you were currently being looked over and weren’t cleared for visitors just yet. He opted to just wait since that’s all he could do.

—–

It was around 9am before they told him you were stable enough to handle visitors. Markus followed the doctor and asked him what happened to you, were you sick? The doctor sighed and was silent for a moment before answering in a neutral tone,

“We’re….not really sure at the moment. There seems to be something wrong with their heart. It started slowing down and nothing we’ve done so far has helped it speed back up to normal. But we’re still running tests. We’ll just have to wait and see. They’re right through there.”

Markus looked through the open door to your room and felt his pump shudder painfully. You looked so small lying there on the bed. Brief memories of Carl in the same state made his worry triple. You had an IV sticking out of your arm, a nasal cannula under your nose, and you were dressed in a standard hospital gown. You looked to be sleeping and could almost pass for peaceful if it weren’t for the pallor to your skin and the circles under your eyes.

He wondered what could be wrong with you. Did you get some kind of virus? Was this something hereditary? He couldn’t stand the not knowing. Two nurses walked past him, neither really noticing his presence as they conversed as they checked you over. Markus knew eavesdropping was rude but he couldn’t help but listen in when he realized they were talking about you.

“Poor thing, I wonder what’s wrong with her,”

the younger of the two gave you a look of pity as she brushed some loose hair from your face. The older nurse sighed and checked over the IV bag before replying,

“I’ve been here longer than anyone and I’ve only seen something like this a few times. But those cases were all of elderly people that just lost their spouse. Seeing this happen to someone so young is rather tragic.”

The younger nurse looked up from where she was tucking you in and gave her senior a confused and mildly worried look.

“What do you mean? The doctor said he didn’t know what was wrong with her.”

The older nurse scoffed and adjusted her glasses as she picked up your chart to give it a look over.

“Oh please, despite what he thinks that young hotshot doctor doesn’t know everything. I told him that all the symptoms they’re displaying line up perfectly with takotsubo cardiomyopathy. Better known as Broken Heart Syndrome. It usually only happens to older people who’ve lost a spouse or a mother that’s lost a child. So seeing it in someone this young is rare but not impossible. All we can do is keep an eye on them and pray it doesn’t kill them.”

Part way through their talk Markus had leaned against the wall outside your hospital room to keep himself out of sight. But part of him wished he’d never had to hear any of that because his legs felt weak, like they were about to give out even though scans showed there was nothing wrong with them. And he didn’t even have a stomach but he felt a pit sink into where he knew one would be if he were human.

The nurses finished their work and left, missing him as they continued chatting over this and that. The android clenched his fists and stepped into the soft lighting of the sterile room. There you were, still sleeping. Breathing calm and your heart rate slower than normal.

_* beep..….beep……beep……beep *_

The sluggish rhythm of their heart made him feel ill. It’s going so slow, too slow to be alright. The android covered his mouth with his hand, disbelief trickling through him like artificial blood. There was no way that…he’d caused this?

“No, no please. This can’t be happening.”

The sound of his familiar voice reached you and you shook off the hazy clutches of the nap you’d been taking to blink up at who had woken you. When you see that it’s Markus your heart skips a beat and you smile up at him.

“Markus, hey~ You came to see me, that’s so nice of you. Where’s the others? At Jericho?”

You’re so happy to see him. Still. The android can’t understand how you can bear to look at him if he’s really the reason that you’re in here….possibly dying. He swallowed down the knot forming in his throat from that painful thought and stepped closer to your bedside.

“You’re alright..,” he breathed, unable to say much else. Instead of trying to say anything else he lifted his hand and gently placed it against their cheek, afraid that any more pressure and they’re disappear beneath his hand. Your smile made him forget everything for a minute but then he remembered you’d both been talking.

“Oh, yes, they’re back at Jericho. I’m supposed to call them soon, they wanted to make sure you were okay. But I-…I had to come see you after we heard you collapsed.”

You flushed a rosy pink and looked away from his gaze and down your lap. Markus worriedly noted that the pulse of your heart monitor slowed down the smallest amount. But before he could even think to say anything about it they glanced up at him before turning away to look out the window, a little laugh offered from their lips,

“Oh you didn’t have to come all the way here to see me. I’m gonna be fine! I’ll be up and outta here before either of us know it.”

You were lying.

Neither the nurses nor the doctor had high hopes for you right now. Not with how painfully slow your heart was going. They acted like it would stop any minute. He didn’t want to play this game with you, this ‘everything will be okay’ game. He’d played it with Carl, he won’t play again.

“Y/n….look at me…please…”

His hand moved to your chin, carefully grabbing it between his thumb and forefinger to turn your face toward his own so you would be eye to eye. You gulped when your eyes met his. A vibrant green and a calming blue. Looking at them always made your stomach feel like it was full of butterflies, but now it just made it flip nervously. But you tried to keep the mood light by laughing a but and saying,

“Heh, Markus, what’s wrong? You’re worrying me.”

But he didn’t even pause before he replied with a painful note to his voice,

“Y/n, this is my fault. This is all my fault…I put you in here. I can’t-…I can’t apologize enough for hurting you this badly but….no amount of sorrys will fix this, will it?”

You were silent and won’t make eye contact with him for nearly a full minute before speaking in a neutral tone that was tinted with the smallest bit of tiredness that revealed an inner calm despite the situation.

“…..So you know why I’m in here huh?”

He doesn’t say anything but the painful look on his handsome features says enough for him and you sigh before continuing,

“Oh Markus, it’s alright. I’m not mad or anything. So don’t worry so much, okay?”

He gripped their hand with his and choked up a bit as this all really hit him.

“Y/n, tell me you know how much you mean to me, please. I…I know I agreed to be with North but….”

He hesitated, unsure for once.

“I love you, Y/n. I love you so much it hurts. I care about North but…I’m not in love with her like I am with you.”

_*beep…beep…beep…beep*_

Your heartbeat audibly speeds up but you still won’t look him in the eye, instead opting to look anywhere else when you finally decide to answer him,

“Markus we both know that’s just the guilt talking. You don’t have to do this, you don’t have to lie. It’s alright.”

You take his hand in yours and place it on the bed next to you and give it a reassuring pat in an effort to make him feel better. He could feel something in him ache so terribly at your softly spoken words. You didn’t believe him, though he couldn’t blame you.

“I’m not lying.”

He hopelessly shook his head and looked away. This was not going how he’d hoped. He couldn’t let you die, not ever and certainly not because of him. He would die if you died. He didn’t want to live without you with him. By his side. His thyrium pump was going nuts, pumping his synthetic blood through him at rapid pace.

He knew nothing he could say would convince you. So with his options so limited he decided he had one last ditch opportunity to show you he was truthful when he said he was in love with you. With all the courage he had in him he bent over your bed and lifted your chin to catch your lips in a scorching kiss.

Your eyes widened and gasped at the sudden move, which made Makrus press closer to you. In the back of his mind he heard your heart monitor speed up, beating fast now. Your eyes slid closed and you let yourself melt into the kiss. You clutched the collar of his jacket and pulled him deeper into it, even timidly brushing your tongue against his bottom lip.

Markus felt like every one of his synthetic veins had liquid fire coursing through them, leading through his erratically working pump and to his lips. He opened his own mouth and let his tongue taste yours, marvelling in the soft sigh you breathed into the air between you. He wanted to touch you more, taste all he could, even if he couldn’t really ‘taste’ at all. But you needed air and sadly pulled back.

A strand of your saliva connected your mouths but broke when you looked away again, this time from what he guessed was shyness. Your cute face was dusted with a warm blush and your lips were wet from the kiss you just shared. All he wanted to do was kiss you again and again. But he has to tell you how he feels, and have you believe him.

“By rA9, I’ve never felt anything like what I feel for you for anyone else. Please believe me.”

He ran his thumb over your bottom lip, inadvertently making you look up at him and smile bashfully as you held his other hand in yours. Not intending to let go this time.

“I believe you~”

—–

The younger nurse from before silently rushed away from the doorway and back down to the nurses station, an excited look on her face. She scrambled up to the circular desk and breathed giddily,

“None of you are gonna fucking BELIEVE what I just saw!!”

After regaling the story the nurses all giggled and collectively lost their gourds over how utterly romantic and cute that all had been.


End file.
